Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Meanwhile in Afghanistan

Rocket fire that struck a US base in Afghanistan on Monday night has damaged the aircraft of the top-ranking US military officer and injured two members of the maintenance crew.

Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, was not near the aircraft at the time of the attack and no one was injured, Jamie Graybeal, NATO spokesman, said.

Colonel Dave Lapan, Dempsey's spokesman, said on Tuesday that two rockets struck Bagram airbase, outside the capital Kabul, and one damaged Dempsey's C-17, a large transport aircraft.

Shrapnel from the rocket struck the door of the C-17 and left two crew members with minor injuries.

[...]

Ten soldiers, mostly Americans, have lost their lives at the hands of their Afghan allies in the past two weeks, and the attacks have caused almost one in every four coalition deaths in the war so far this month. NATO and American officers have suggested the Afghan government has failed  to come to grips with the problem but Dempsey said he came away "reassured" after discussions with his Afghan counterpart, General Shir Mohammad Karimi.

"I am reassured that the Afghan leaders, military and civilian, understand how important this moment is," Dempsey said.
  alJazeera

Willfully blind, I believe we call that. Or just plain deluded. After all...
Another attacker in an Afghan police uniform killed a member of the NATO forces Sunday in Afghanistan, the latest in a slew of so-called "green-on-blue" attacks.

The incident took place in southern Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said.

The attack brings to 40 the number of NATO troops killed in 32 such attacks this year, according to figures provided by ISAF.

[...]

Even as NATO blamed the majority of attacks on personal grievances rather than an infiltration by insurgents, ISAF commanding Gen. John Allen ordered all troops in the country to carry loaded weapons around the clock.
  
If these are not even infiltrators, but Afghan police and soldiers with grievances, perhaps we should rethink what we're doing?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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